Cooking Vinyl reignites publishing arm

The worldwide representation deal with Sam Duckworth is for his current self-titled album and any future works. It follows moves by the company to develop its international infrastructure.

The publishing group's managing director Paul Kinder says that Cooking Vinyl Music had largely "lain dormant" prior to his arrival in 2008. The former Chrysalis European director of A&R says that although deals had been signed by Cooking Vinyl founder Martin Goldschmidt, little had been happening to proactively promote the roster.

But in the last two years Kinder has built the company's catalogue and artist base from the record label's London base in Acton, with sync and administration being outsourced to independent companies.

"At the moment, I am the publishing company. However, there will come a point where the department will have to expand, but for now the arrangement works extremely well," he notes, adding the organisation has also developed an international network of sub-publishers, including Downtown Music Publishing in the US, to help promote its growing roster across the globe.

Now Kinder says he is keen for Cooking Vinyl Music to start focusing on finding and developing new, original talent - Duckworth's signing is a start in this new direction.

The company has already lined up Duckworth to work with Shy FX and producer Dave McCracken and is looking to set him up with more collaborations next year. "This will hopefully open up more doors for him," explains Kinder. "It will help to develop his sound as Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. And I am hoping it will result in a number of tracks which could be used by other artists as well as in syncs or bespoke compositions."

The publisher has also signed development deals with two emerging UK artists, pop singer Berbo - aka Tris Taylor - and Jack Hardman. Kinder says they want to nurture and develop the pair to a point where they will be ready to sign a record contract next year.

"Cooking Vinyl Music can really open doors for artists and I want to develop the company so that it is seen as a really serious and strong independent publisher which can attract the new talent," he explains.

He also points out the company's small size - coupled with low overheads - can mean Cooking Vinyl is in the best position to spend time with and invest in artists and talent early on in the career.

Kinder adds, "As well as helping to provide acts with creative and financial support we are able to give input ranging from discussing and reviewing ideas to financing the release of a single in order to generate media attention and record company awareness."